1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surgical cutting instruments and, more particularly, to surgical routers having cutting blades for cutting anatomical tissue, aspiration ports for aspirating tissue cut by the cutting blades and flutes for carrying cut tissue toward the aspiration ports.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Surgical instruments for cutting various types of anatomical tissue have become extremely popular for use in many surgical procedures and, particularly, in joint surgery such as surgery of the knee and shoulder. Surgical cutting instruments for cutting anatomical tissue have been designed with cutting blades to perform various diverse cutting functions, such as resection, shaving and abrading, on various diverse types of anatomical tissue, such as bone and cartilage. Such surgical cutting instruments have also been designed with flutes to facilitate cutting by the cutting blades and with suction holes to aspirate tissue cut by the cutting blades via the surgical cutting instrument. One of the disadvantages of many presently available fluted surgical cutting instruments is that the structure and arrangement of the cutting blades and flutes with respect to one another fail to produce aggressive cutting and efficient resecting action in diverse types of anatomical tissue. Other disadvantages of fluted surgical cutting instruments are that the geometry of flutes and/or aspiration ports is not capable of accommodating relatively large quantities of tissue cut by the cutting blades and is not effective in carrying the cut tissue toward the suction holes, such that the instrument can become clogged during use. An additional drawback of many fluted surgical cutting instruments is that the suction holes are located away from the flutes with the result that the cut tissue can build up and clog the instrument prior to reaching the suction holes. Clogging of the surgical cutting instruments during use is highly undesirable in that impairment and/or interruption of surgical procedures, as well as damage to the cutting instruments, can result. In this regard, clogging of the surgical cutting instruments is particularly disadvantageous in endoscopic or closed surgery arthroscopic procedures. An additional disadvantage of such prior art instruments is that the surgical site becomes clouded from view with debris that is not resected but thrown radially outward due to the aspiration ports not being located sufficiently close to the blades. Accordingly, there is a need for a fluted surgical router, particularly in endoscopic procedures, for aggressively cutting and efficiently resecting various diverse types of anatomical tissue with various diverse cutting functions and for effectively carrying the cut tissue and debris toward aspiration ports of the surgical router for removal, via the surgical router, from the patient's body.